State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY-B) and its five partner community colleges (Broome, Monroe, Onondaga, Rockland, and Westchester) seek a three-year renewal of their Bridges grant to achieve our goal-to increase the number of underrepresented minority students (URMs) who succeed in biomedically related science at the community colleges and to increase the numbers who earn a baccalaureate and who proceed to careers in science. The relevance of this research to public health is that the biomedical research field will be more populated with URMs, who will in turn bring research attention to health issues that affect minority populations and will work to ensure that minorities receive the best health care possible. The objectives we seek to achieve this goal are: 1) Identify the appropriate URM students in their first year at the community college. 2) Support the students in their science courses at the community college. 3) Provide a hands-on summer residential research experience in the university setting for these students. 4) Support those students who choose to transfer to SUNY-B for their baccalaureate in science. These objectives will be met through a series of program events coordinated jointly by SUNY-B and the community colleges. First, there will be visits by the program directors to the community college campuses during which the directors explain the program, discuss their research and address the relevance of science courses to a career in biomedical research. Second, there will be a two-day "introduction" to SUNY-B for the 20 URM students accepted into the program to include visits to classes, presentations by all the Binghamton science mentors and an overnight in the residence halls hosted by a Binghamton URM science major. During that same two-day orientation, community college science faculty will meet with SUNY-B science faculty to discuss ways to enhance URM's success in science. Third, mentoring, supplies and equipment, and tutorial support will be made available at the community colleges for these students. Fourth, a five to eight-week hands-on summer research experience will be sponsored by SUNY-B for the twenty URM students. Fifth, a special Culture of Science course will be taught at SUNY-B for those Bridges students who bridge to SUNY-B during their first semester of matriculation at SUNY-B. This course will also ensure that the students avail themselves of the services provided through three grant supported programs currently in place on campus: the AMP, C-STEP, and the Ronald McNair Program. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]